It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." President Theodore Roosevelt

Please continue to offer your prayers for the repose of the souls of former teammates

Stephen Patrizio '13 and James Walker '09

Congratulations to the 7's Team for the third straight State Championship this fall 2019!!

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO VOLUNTEERED FOR THE DRAGON BOAT

RACE IN October to support Rugby Alumni Scholarship program!! Coach Ireland and Shaeffer appreciated your efforts!!

15's Season practice now till end of season -

Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday 3:30-5:30 PM Turf Field this week, next week on Rugby field

A brief write up on the Malvern Prep match is being created. Attached is the link for Rose Venuto's Malvern Prep pictures (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nzKqcEJUBh5_j15-8aX_awipNvDN7k3H?usp=sharing) and is also located under the 2019 Varsity Schedule along with the Media, Unionville, Downingtown, St. Gregory's match and scrimmage match A&B sides vs St. Joseph Prep and Salesianumn. These write ups will continue throughout the season. They used to be a part of the Shanahan rugby experience and the coaches are trying to bring them back for both players and parents.

2019 Roster is also now completed. We will add players as they join the team.

Players are to wear a shirt and tie to Away matches.

Next Team Event

Thanks to all parents who attended the welcome meeting will be in the Commons Room Thursday 21 March from 6:00-7:00 PM and the Concussion Management presentation in the Commons on Monday 7:00-8:30 PM by experts from NovaCare. Experts include former Shanahan rugby player Greg Gurtizen PT, DPT Doctor of Physical Therapy; Rita Padhiar, and Dr. Vincent Schaller. Dr. Schaller is a "guru" and pioneer in concussion management; he has performed live talks and has been interviewed on ESPN, publicized articles

Mateo B Thanks to every parent and player who helped this past Friday support for the James Walker 8th annual clothing drive with loading the trailer at the Walkers house! It was a great success and I (coach Karabin) want to personally thank Mateo Bien for taking on the responsibility of making certain that the Walkers had the support they needed on Friday. A big thank you to those who drove - Tisa Bien, Kelly Manning, and Janet Spaulding and attending players - David Mullen, Joe Manning, Chris Moran, James Spaulding, Mateo Bien, Branden Pappas (and his sister Alana) and Zachar Schultz.

A special Thank You needs to go to Mike Rudisill who stood in for his son Samuel who was away in Portugal. Sam signed up for helping - an excellent decision - but forgot that he was going to be away.

I met with the Walkers on Saturday and they wanted me to again thank the Shanahan rugby community for helping once again load the trailer! It is a very special moment to the Walkers when they see the Shanahan boys arrive to support the clothing drive in remembrance of their son James.

Thanks to all who helped.

Please complete your registration ASAP!!

Here are the registration directions & forms:

All Shanahan male students are invited to attend the drills and scrimmage sessions throughout the 2020 spring season. Come and try rugby!! No need to register or go to more practices than you want to learn if you love the game. Hopefully all will learn, play the game and enjoy the sessions. We welcome all to play in the spring season and help Shanahan win our District Championship as we did in the 2018 season and qualify for and win the state championship tournament in 2019.

To Further Your Understanding of The Proper Way to Ruck, Scrum and learn the Laws of High School Rugby, Click on the Rugby PA Icon.

June 2nd - Shanahan defeated ArchBishop Ryan 31-0 to win the first annual Catholic Rugby Championship tournament. Competiting schools were Shanahan; Pius X; Father Judge; Ryan; North Catholic and Troop Youth (representing Bonner). The day was bright and beautiful for the teams in this inagnural event to begin a new sports tradition for the Archdiocese school system. The teams played excellent rugby and were able to spend time with players from the other schools watching rugby as they prepared for their next match. Shanahan players playing in their last match were: Dan Reilly - "Mighty Missouri"; Jon McLaughlin - "Socrates", Jon Morin "Scorin Morin" and "The Defender", Mike Wigmore , "Crashing" Mike Kraemer, Mike Ciliberti, Michael McCaughan, Geoff Wilkins aka "Concrete Charlie" & Amelio.

May 19th - Shanahan won the Chester County tournament for the 5th time in 6 years defeating Conestoga in the championship match 16-8. Shanahan had a tough opponent in Conestoga who lead 8-3 at half time and threatned several times in the 2nd half to score but Shanahan's tough defense held Conestoga and the match ended with Kevin Karabin kicking a final penalty kick to bring the match to 16-8. Mike Swanick scored Shanahan's lone try with a strong run for about 15 meters out ending with 3 Conestoga tacklers hanging on as he drug them into the in-goal area to score. Jon Morin and Mike McCaughan had a strong defensive match along with several runs to significantly advance the ball. Fullback Nick Ponto continued to improve his strong play handeling many Conestoga kicks and runing and kicking the ball back into Conestoga territory. Senior forwards Jon McLaughlin, Mike Kraemer, Mike Wigmore, Geoff Wilkins, Mike Ciliberti gave their all for their final championship match to bring home the CCI championship to a grateful Shanahan team.

In the semi-final match Shanahan defeated a tough Downingtown squad which was much improved from their play earlier in the season. The Downingtown scrum half, in particular, displayed courage and determination in helping his team combat Shanahan.

May 2nd - Shanahan remained undefeated in Division 1 and Chester County Rugby League play defeating W.C. East in a shortened match due to thunderstorms 29-0. Shanahan dominated the match but East's young team was very agressive and continued to play against the odds till the heavens opened up with lightening and thunder. Swanick, Morin, John Walters & Reilly scored try's and Kevin Karabin used his now magical Hogwarts school of Magic toe to put up the conversion kicks.through the uprights. More to follow....McCaughan, Kraemer, Mattioni, Shark, McLaughlin were great as usual.

April 28th - Shanahan placed 3rd in the EPRU tournamnet losing a very close match to Doylestown 22-27 and defeating St. Gregory's conviningly 28-7. This was Shanahan's best showing in the EPRU tournamnet since the team placed 3rd in 1997 under the leadership of captains Tim Karabin and Chrsi Piskai. In 2002 under the leadership of captains Reilly, McLaughlin and Karabin the team played their best rugby of the season narrowly losing to Doylestown in the semi-final match due to some mistakes that Doylestown captitalized on for 3 try's. The team never ONCE gave up on the field and were pressing for a try at the end of the match. More to follow....

Shanahan then went on to defeat St. Gregory's 28-7 allowing only one try after repeated penalty attempts by St. Gregory's from 10 meters out. At half the match was 9-7 in favor of Shanahan on 3 penalty kicks by Kevin Karabin. Coming out after half Shanahan put their scoring into overdrive with try's by Swanick (15 meter run) ,70 meter run by Jon Morin (on a great defensive play with a picked off pass) & Mattioni ( 2 meter dive off a ruck) while Kevin Karabin added 4 points with conversion kicks.

On the day Mike McCaughan was tireless in defense as was the rest of the back line and the forwards. Ponto took quite a beating on the day retrieving kicks and making tackles. More to follow....

April 25th - Shanahan continued to the EPRU semi-final round with a tough win over Kennett 8-5 on a try by Mike Mattioni and a penalty kick by Kevin Karabin. This win took the Eagles to 9-0 on the season and was a significant victory for Shanahan over a very strong Kennett team which played with committment, courage and strong team support. Shanahan played much of the first half on their side of the field threatening but unable to score and the half ended at 0-0. Shanahan came out strong and finally scored with Mattioni's try and shortly after with the penaly kick to lead 8-0. Kennett then scored with about 2 minutes left and the match ended with Shanahan once again inside their 22 meterline but unnable to get the ball in for the score. Shanahan may yet meet kennett later this season in the Division 2 and Chester County Invitational tournaments. Mike Swanick had an exellent defensive match for Shanahan followed by Morin, McCaughan, Kelly, Karabin and Ponto. The entire forward team also was outstanding on defense with every person contributing significantly - Reilly, Ciliberti, Simmons, Kraemer, Wilkins, Piskai, McLaughlin Hurley and Mattioni. Steve Wenclewicz also helped in the win with his return to the field for 15 minutes after an early season broken wrist.

April 23rd - In EPRU playoff action Shanahan went to 8-0 on the season defeating North Penn 29-3 to move to the quarter final round. Shanahan played an excellent technical match with constant support from both forwards and backs. The first score was by Nick Ponto who moved into the line to take a pass and scored in the cornor. Jon Morin scored from 20 meters out with an excellent pop pass from Mike Swanick that Morin took on a super speed burst that was beautiful to see and Morin added another try with a steal for a 40 meter run.. Joe Piskai also scored a try with a short run and kevin Karabin added 9 points with strong kicking for conversion kicks and 1 penalty kick. North Penn played a tough match from beginning to end and showed courage and determination in the face of adversity. Jon McLaughlin played another outstanding match both offensively and defensively showing the team the way with his consistent play. Sophmore Aaron Kelly started his first match at 2nd row and junior Rick Menna started as prop for injuried Reilly. Both players stepped up for Shanahan and contributed to the strong team win.

April 21st -Shanahan defeated Warwick 21-5 scoring all their points in the first half on try's by Kevin Karabin, Mike Kelly and Jon Morin. Karabin added 6 additional points going 3 for 3 on conversion kicks. Shanahan moved to 7-0 on the season with the Division 1 win remaining undefeated in both the Chester County Rugby League and Division 1. The Shanahan team once again played extremely tight defensively with standouts being Mike Mattioni, Mike McCaughan, Mike Kraemer, Geoff Wilkins, Joe Piskai and Steve Hurley all lead by forward captains Dan Reilly and John McLaughlin. Joe Piskai and Steve Hurley continued to be impressive in the line outs with their jumping and Mike Wigmore was great in his defensive efforts as a jumper. Sophmore's Ponto continued to improve as fullback as well as Mike Kelly on wing, bringing to 4 the number of sophmores helping to power the 2002 Shanahan team. In total Shanahan has 12 sophmores positioned to help the team continuing it's winning tradition in 2003.

April 18th - Shanahan moved to 6-0 on the season with a 37-0 win over neighbor Downingtown and clinched the Chester County Rugby league title for 2002 which Downingtown captured in 2001. Downingtown had an undefeated Division 2 and Chester County league season in 2001 but lost 13 starters from that team. Downingtown played well from the start and never gave up but Shanahan dominated the match with very stron team play by both the forwards and the backs. The match was played at Shanahan at 3:00 Pm with over 150 teams supporters - parents, students & teachers - watching the match. As always with Downingtown it was a clean match with sportsmanship exhibited by both teams. More to follow ...

April 14th - Shanahan defeated Hibernia RFC 37-5 after Hibernia scored in the first minute of the match off a ruck at mid-field. Shanahan was caught flat footed by the Hibernian scrum half but only for that first play as Shanahan went on to score 37 points. Shanahan went to 5-0 on the season preparing for the Downingtown match on 18 April . Sophmore inside center Mike Swanick had his best scoring match of the season with three try's. In his first score Swanick was tackled into the goal post but had the presence of mind to touch the ball to the post for the score. In fact he touched the ball to the post at least 3 times to make sure he scored. In rugby the goal post is the same as touching the ball down beyound the try line or on the line itself. Next Swanick scored on an intercepted pass and finally on a strong run for about 25 meters out. Also scoring for Shanahan were senior Jon Morin, junior Joe Piskai and junior Nicolo Stewart. Kevin Karabin put an additional 7 points on the board for Shanahan with two conversion kicks and 1 penalty kick. Kevin also assisted the team ith strong punting to touch and passing to the backs to set up the scores. Mattioni also continued his outstanding performance at scrum half constantly digging out the ball for Shanahan. The entire team played cohesively as a unit which accounted for the convincing win. Joe Piskai scored on a dropped ball from 30 meters out while Stewart scored off a pass from Swanick. Jon Morin had another excellent run past at least 6 Hibernia players to make the try. The forwards played great in all their scrums,lineouts and rucks and mauls. Absent team captains Reilly - visiting Drexel University - and Jon McLaughlin - knee injury - the forwards rose to the challenge and sophmore Philip Cantwell propped while Mike Wigmore took over flawlessly at wing forward. Coming onto the pitchaslo were sophmore Rob Hennessey @ hooker and Nick Innunici @ wing. Ponto and McCuaghan also put in strong performances both offensively and defensively. Anton Rosich came on as wing forward late in the match and played great but was injuried in the B side match with a fractured ankle.

April 11th - Shanahan defeated Henderson high school 24-5 to go to 4-0 in Divsion 2 play for the 2002 season. Junior Brian Simmons scored twice for Shanahan once a a twenty meter run and another on a ten meter drive to the try line. Simmons has embraced rugby completely in this his first year of playenjoying the constant flow of rugby and the ability to both tackle and score points. Jon Morin scored one try on a skip pass from about 30 meters. Jon continued his attempts to score throughout the match and on one 70 meter run tripped just short of the try line for what would have been his 2nd try. Jon "Scorin " Morin is living up to his name this year as he works as a team member to put wins on the board for Shanahan rugby. Geoff "concrete Charlie/Geoff " Wilkins continued his agressive tackling as he appears to have become a student of Chuck Bednarick of Philadelphia Eagles national championship team fame. Wilkins, a mild manner fellow off the field, does his bit to make the team a success. Brian Simmons, the junior scoring sensation, scored again with excellent support from his teammates and continued his excellent work as a prop. Steve Hurley the new sophmore 8 man scored with a dive from a 5 meter scrum to put the final points up against Henderson who played well. Kevin Karabin nailed two conversion kicks for Shanahan before he came out of the match at half and "The Shadow" Mattioni continued to confound the opposition with how he gets control of the ball from rucks/mauls and scrums. Mike Swanick has become a comsumate team play at inside center never failing to make excellent passes, diving into rucks and tackling his opposition consistently. Another major contributor to the team in this match was Mike McCaughan who on many occasions ran down kicks from Shanahan and tackled the Henderson player before he could make any gain up the field. Mike also was supported in his efforts with sophmore Nick Ponto who seems to work best under pressure. Everyone did a very good job in this match including our captains Reilly " Mighty Missouri" and McLaughlin "Socrates" who arrived at the match a bit late after viewing the beautiful flora and fauna of the Chester County countryside. We try to encourage the addage that "Rugby is a part of your life,...not your life" as a team philosophy but this was a close encounter. Congradulations to all who played in this match including Mike Kelly; Mike "Crashing" Kraemer, Mike Ciliberti, Joseph Piskai and Ianucci.

April 7th - Shanhahan defeated Media 18-0 in a tough match played at Shanahan. The Shanahan team started off the match with an early score by Jon Morin on an inside switch 20 meters out. Morin scored again on an interepted pass later in the first half from about 30m meters out due to playing excellent defense. Kevin Karabin kicked two penalty kicks and 0ne conversion kick for 8 points. As usual Shanahan received excellent play from both the forwards and the backs. Forwards dominated rucks, mauls and lineouts where Shanahan brought in the ball and stole many of Media's possessions. Kraemer, Simmons, McLaughlin, Ciliberti, Wilkins, Piskai, Wigmore & sophmore Steve Hurley #8 played an outstanding team effort. Leadership exhibited by forward captains McLaughlin & Reilly both verbally and through example push the forwards to their limit and beyound. Piskai has become an outstanding jumper for Shanahan and Dan Karabin '00, all time outstanding jumper for Shanahan, wants lifter "Cosmo/Crashing" Kraemer to come to Scranton University to be his lifter again. However rumors place Kraemer @ Drexel University or Wiedner University. Kevin Karabin continued his leadership of the backs with the help of "The Shadow" Mattioni who is rentless in digging out the ball from rucks, scums and mauls. Inside center sophmore Mike Swanick has the potential to become both a great center and flyhalf for Shanahan. As as sophmore he knows quite a bit about rugby, and in particular to help outside senior Jon Morin look good. Swanick runs hard, tackles hard and passes great...90% of the time. McCaughan and Kelly are great wings and McCaughan has yet to find someone too big and fast not to tackle. McCaughan is still making up to the team for the matches he missed in the Caymans last Easter due to sunburn. Mike says the sunburn came from the trip to StingRay City on the Catamaran but some guys say it was the girls he was chasing after that caused him to lose sight of using sun screen.

March 24th - Shanahan defeated Kennett high school 18-7 with two trys's- one by Brian Simmons and one by Mike McCaughan -and two penalty kicks and one conversion kick by junior flyhalf Kevin Karabin. McCaughan received an excellent pass from Swanick to race to the outside cornor for the try. Kennett played a fine match and never gave up pressing Shanahan to the end of the match.

March 17th - Shanahan controlled the match with Connestoga from the opening minutes of the match when Shanahan scored a try by 8 man Steve Hurley who carried the ball in from the five meter line. While Shanahan dominated the play on much of their side of the pitch the Connestogsa kicking game kept knocking Shanahan back toward their defending in-goal area. With 1 minute left in the first half Connestoga scored with a kick into their in-goal with their player dropping on the ball. While the try was awarded the match film clearly shows Jon Morin using his speed passing the Connestoga player to down the ball and prevent the try. As Morin passed the Connestoga player he was shoved out of the way illegally. The point of this story is that Morin who had many great runs during the match is a speedster of great ability...faster than a speeding bullett.

The second half showed Shanahan continuing to dominate but unable to score till 10 minjutes left in the match Kevin Karabin put a 20 meter penalty kick through the uprights. Kevin barely missed 3 other penalty kicks, one from 40 meters out that hit the goal posts. Mike Swanick with Jon Morin lead the offensive effort for the backs while all the forwards drove the ball down the field with punches. Kraemer, Piskai, Reilly, Wigmore, Hurley, Ciliberti, Wilkins, Mattioni constantly supported each other as they tackled and ran the ball. Karabin kicked great penalty kicks to touch keeping the team out of trouble time and again. Piskai and Wigmore proved extremely valuable in the lineouts winning 90% of Shanahan put ins and many of Connestoga's.

March 10th - Shanahan played a 30 minute A side scrimmage against Doylestown RFC winning the first period 7-0. Mike Swanick make the try for Shanahan off an excellent run by Jon Morin. Morin passed to Swanick on the 5 meter line and Swanick then took the ball in for the score. The B side then lost to Doylestown and a combined A/B side lost the third and final period to Doylestown 0-7. Good sportsmanship were exhibited by both sides on a very cold and windly day.

March 3rd - Shanahan opened the season with a practice scrimmage vs North Penn RFC. Both Shanahan and North Penn played well as the teams tried out their form for the upcomming season. Shanahan played very well overall with strong defensive efforts and threatned to score many times throughout the match due to strong support throughout the match. The Shanahan kicking game was played well although the very soggy field limited the ability of the Shanahan backs to take advantage of their speed. Kevin Karabin & Nicolo Stewart scored trys for Shanahan and Nicolo kicked a 2 point conversion. Jon McLaughlin & Dan Reily played their best match in the past two years leading other inexperienced Shanahan A side forwards to new heights. Joe Piskai at wing forward and Steve Hurley at 8 man where energizer ruggers who swept across the field time & again. New backs -centers - Mike Swanick & Nick Ponto were excellent in their support of each other and the other backs. Kevin Karabin was strong team leader at fly half while Mike Mattioni made a very successful conversion to scrum half from his position as full back in gthe 2001 season. More to follow...